The action star will have Esha Gupta and Ileana D'Cruz by his side in the film.

Sure a chunk of Akshay Kumar's resume reeks of mindless blockbusters, but the actor in him is gradually moving towards a different space, which will help him do some good, meaningful cinema. Debutant director Tinu Suresh Desai's "Rustom" is already on floors and the first picture of its leading man looks fantastic.

Set in the 50s, the film requires Kumar to slip into a new avatar for which he will be using a lot of prosthetics. That's not all; to make sure he shines in his new role, costume designer Ameira Punvani's spent three months working on his look. "It reflects the flared pants, charcoal ties and cardigans of the era. He will also use prosthetics for his role," a source told Mumbai Mirror.

Witten by Neeraj Pandey and Vipul Rawal, "Rustom" has Esha Gupta and Ileana D'Cruz as its leading ladies. "Akshay and Ileana kicked off the schedule at a suburban studio, Esha will join them shortly. It will also be shot in the UK and parts of Europe," the leading daily quoted an insider as saying who further elaborated that the supporting cast will boast a bunch of British actors.

For now, every aspect of the film appears positive but it may encounter trouble bringing in the money as there are two big-ticket films releasing on the same day. Makers of "Mohenjo Daro" and "Hera Pheri 3" have blocked Aug. 12 as their release dates, Catch News reports.

Whatever the box-office fate may be, Kumar appeared confident talking about the upcoming romantic-thriller last September. "Having worked with Neeraj on two fabulous projects, I am excited to start work on our new film. I am happy that Zee Studios is putting its might behind this film along with Kriarj Entertainment and Friday Filmworks. It gives me and the entire team confidence that our film will make its mark worldwide using the global might of all the producers," the "Airlift" actor told The Times of India.